Automotive suspension systems in use today incorporate a variety of arrangements to best suit the intended applications. An automotive suspension arrangement that has become popular is a strut assembly, which typically involves a coil spring mounted over a shock-absorbing piston. The coil spring and shock absorber are mounted in a strut assembly between upper and lower strut housings. Such strut assemblies are positioned to extend between the wheel assemblies and the vehicle frame, so as to insulate movement of the wheel assembly from the vehicle frame.
In some instances, vehicle owners wish to modify the height of the vehicle frame with respect to its wheels. For example, certain vehicles, such as light-duty trucks, are originally equipped with a suspension that elevates the rear of the vehicle to a greater extent than the front, so as to accommodate for a level vehicle upon loads being placed at the rear end of the vehicle. In such arrangements, some vehicle owners wish to “pre-level” the suspension by raising the front of the vehicle frame to match the extent of vehicle lift provided by the manufacturer at the rear. Such raising of the front suspension of a vehicle is commonly referred to as “suspension leveling”. Other applications for raising the suspension height of a vehicle include vehicle owners who simply wish to raise the height of the vehicle frame relative to the wheels for ground clearance or aesthetic purposes.
Devices for effectuating such suspension height modification include static spacers of fixed dimension that are typically placed between the top of the strut assembly and the vehicle frame at the point of connection therebetween. Other suspension height increasing solutions involve fixed dimension spacers disposed between individual coils of the coil spring component of the strut assembly. In either case, the extent of the suspension height increase is predetermined by the dimension of the static spacer utilized. In many instances, the effect on vehicle ride quality due to suspension height extension is unpredictable. As a result, suspension height modifications are many times repeated in order to achieve a desired balance between suspension height and vehicle ride quality. Since the procedure for installation or removal of conventional suspension spacers is relatively time consuming, and therefore expensive, a need exists in the art for a suspension height adjustment mechanism that enables suspension height modification while in an installed condition on the vehicle suspension. There is a further need in the art to provide a vehicle suspension adjustment mechanism that can provide for a wide range of suspension height modification through a single device. It is envisioned that the apparatus of the present invention meets the needs in the art identified above.
In some cases, modification of the suspension height can negatively affect the ride quality of the vehicle, at least in part due to the resultant increased angle between the upper control arm and the knuckle at the upper ball joint. As the respective angle therebetween increases due to the increase in suspension height, the upper control aim and the knuckle together substantially create a fixed-length element that inhibits dampening of up/down movement through, for example, the strut assembly.
It is therefore another object of the present invention to provide a device to decrease the angle at the ball joint between the upper control arm and the associated knuckle in situations wherein the suspension height of the vehicle has been increased through after-market additions to original equipment, which device itself enables adjustment to wheel camber.